Better days: Trump and Zucker pose for a photo while attending Sloan Barnett Publication party in 2008.

By Nick Hunt/Patrick McMullan/Getty Images.

The question has been hanging in the air for the better part of a year inside the Time Warner Center at Columbus Circle: will AT&T leave CNN President Jeff Zucker in his job when—if—it completes its acquisition of Time Warner? For months, AT&T, a Dallas-based telecom giant with no news or entertainment experience to speak of, has been evasive about this question. “Can’t they say anything nice about the guy?” one Time Warner executive remarked to me recently. Said another: “There have been opportunities where they could have been more forthcoming with support of Jeff. Would it have been better if they could have figured out a more artful way of showing a little more support? Yes, but I get it.”

Part of this concern has to do with an incipient culture clash. AT&T is a decidedly less fashionable operation. Randall Stephenson, its C.E.O., likes to talk (in his Oklahoma accent) about the virtues of the Boy Scouts. John Stankey, who will oversee Time Warner’s media businesses if the deal goes through, is at least from Los Angeles, but he’s worked at AT&T for three decades. The company can seem a long way, at least culturally, from the kinds of products Time Warner makes at places like HBO, Turner Broadcasting and Warner Bros.

But a bigger part of the anxiousness has to do with Donald Trump. The Justice Department has to approve the merger, and the president who runs the Justice Department has been in a very well-known feud with CNN in general, and Zucker in particular. Trump said early on that he didn’t like the AT&T-Time Warner mash-up, even threatening to kill it. Over the summer, as CNN’s war with the administration heated up, so too did Trump’s Zucker rhetoric. “I hear he’s going to resign at some point pretty soon,” Trump said during a $35,000-a-head fund-raising dinner on June 28. “I mean, these are horrible human beings. It’s a shame what they’ve done to the name CNN.” Days later, there were reports in The New York Times and on the Daily Caller that Trump wanted to use Zucker as a bargaining chip. In other words: we’ll give you your deal, you show Zucker the door.

At the same time, the president and Stephenson were looking increasingly chummy. When Trump convened Stephenson and other technology figures for a June 22 White House gathering, he praised the AT&T boss for doing a “really top job.” Stephenson, meanwhile, seemed to jump through hoops to avoid saying anything about Zucker at all. Some at Time Warner have been charitable about his reticence. “If you’re Randall,” said one executive, “here’s what you don’t want to do, and everyone’s telling you this: don’t say something that can become a quote that [Trump] can take and create a problem for you with.”
To colleagues, Zucker has seemed unfazed. But when Stankey arrived at the Time Warner Center on August 10 for a meeting with Zucker in the CNN chief’s fifth-floor office, adjacent to the newsroom, Zucker had a request, according to several people familiar with the meeting. He asked for an assurance that AT&T would come out publicly with a show of support once the deal closed. Stankey, these sources said, agreed.

With the union edging ever closer to consummation—it’s in the final stage of regulatory approval, expected to close before year’s end—and speculation about Zucker’s future approaching a fever pitch, AT&T has finally decided to give Zucker a public thumbs-up. A company spokesman provided the following statement from Stankey after I reached out to discuss this story: “We don’t comment upon anyone’s employment at a company we don’t yet own. But, as it relates to CNN, it’s clearly a great organization, they are having a great year, and Jeff Zucker is doing a terrific job.”

Stephenson and Stankey have a rich vocabulary of soothing nostrums when talking about the deal: they value continuity and stability; they’re not here to mess with what’s already working; they’re the first to admit they’re not experienced in the development of premium content, so of course the plan is to leave the creative stuff to the creatives; they’re here to work with you, not against you.

But the AT&T mothership still inspires fear at Time Warner. “The real question is, who are these guys?” one executive told me, referring to Time Warner’s soon-to-be leadership suite. (Time Warner C.E.O. Jeff Bewkes is leaving after the transition, and AT&T settled on a new name for the Time Warner portfolio a few weeks ago, but it’s being held close to the vest.) A common theme inside the company is that it would be a big mistake if AT&T eroded the highly autonomous, talent-driven corporate culture that Time Warner’s senior management teams cherish, which is something that wouldn’t happen right away, but could develop over time. Another executive expressed concern about “whether there would be a lot more hierarchy and bureaucracy and a limitation on creative freedom.” This person also noted that “it remains to be seen if the people doing the jobs in that arena will be able to continue to do so with the level of autonomy” they’re accustomed to. A third executive at the company told me, “The honest truth is that nobody knows, and until AT&T and John Stankey and his team are in place and see what they’ve purchased, no one will really know the fate of any part of the organization.”

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Others wonder whether AT&T will wholeheartedly embrace the full complement of edgy content that Time Warner churns out. This is a place that’s home to rabble-rousers like Bill Maher; John Oliver (who actually did a segment recently shredding the AT&T merger); and Samantha Bee. This year alone, Time Warner has given us a hit series, The Deuce, about porn and prostitution in 1970s New York; a sex scandal on the set of Bachelor in Paradise; and a smartphone game called “Punch a Nazi” that was created by the digital entertainment brand Super Deluxe. You can tell how different the two companies are just by laying eyes on them, literally. Stephenson and Stankey look natural in bland, boxy suits befitting the boardroom. Time Warner hotshots like Zucker, tattooed Turner C.E.O. John Martin, and tanned HBO C.E.O. Richard Plepler tend to go with a more stylish and tailored look. If they are wearing suits, it’s a good chance they’ll be tie-less, with the top two buttons undone.

There’s also skepticism about Stankey’s media experience, which is limited to AT&T’s 2014 acquisition of the satellite television service DirectTV and an unsuccessful bid to buy Hulu in 2013 in partnership with the Chernin Group. Peter Chernin, a veteran Hollywood and media executive, and former News Corp power player who’s gotten to know Stankey well, was unwavering in his confidence when we spoke on the phone. “The truth is, John has been running a media company for the past few years,” Chernin said. “John’s a big believer in stability and loyalty. He doesn’t try and get involved in things that aren’t his background. I don’t think you’ll ever see John trying to choose set designs or camera angles or reading scripts. He’ll manage the people he has empowered to do that. My guess is he’ll focus less on telling any of those guys how to run their company, but will be extremely focused on the overall strategic imperatives.”

Here’s why both parties want this marriage to happen: Time Warner has a deep bench of incredibly valuable programming and content. AT&T has more than a hundred million mobile phones where all of that good stuff can be delivered. Plus, owning all of it would theoretically make more people want to have a phone that is serviced by AT&T, which also possesses a trove of customer data that the Time Warner properties can use to make advertising more lucrative and efficient. I asked Bewkes why he likes the deal, and here’s what he told me through a spokesman: “Time Warner’s success has been built on our long-standing commitment to creative freedom and independent journalism, coupled with relentless investment in innovation and programming. From my many discussions with John and Randall, I believe they understand the importance of these values and priorities and will be great stewards of our unmatched brands and assets.”

Randall Stephenson attends a Sentate Judiciary Subcommittee hearing on the AT&T and TWC merger on December 7, 2016.

By Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg/Getty Images.

If selling phones and fueling other telecom businesses will be a prime directive of the new venture, it’s easy to see how Time Warner’s cultural assets could potentially take a backseat. As some deal-watchers have noted, it wouldn’t strain credulity to expect AT&T to offer Time Warner’s bounty at a discount as a way to entice potential customers and retain existing ones. As one analyst told The Hollywood Reporter, “They approach most businesses as, how can they help wireless?”

Ascertaining a sense of why the stakes feel high at CNN in particular requires an understanding of just how vital Zucker is to the organization. Prior to his coronation in late 2012, CNN was a picture of decline: perennially third in the cable-news ratings; losing viewers to the partisan fare of Fox News and MSNBC; fumbling through leadership changes and failing to make hits out of new and ill-fated shows hosted by the likes of Piers Morgan and Eliot Spitzer.

Zucker was a two-time cancer survivor who first rose to prominence as a 26-year-old executive producer of NBC’s Today show. He went on to run the entire network—where he gave Trump a big break with The Apprentice—before becoming a casualty of another high-profile merger, when Comcast bought NBC in 2010. Then he went on to become the answer to CNN’s prayers. Zucker brought the fire back with a mix of original documentary programming and wall-to-wall coverage of sensational stories like the missing Malaysian airliner and the Boston Marathon bombing. When Donald Trump came along, Zucker directed his journalists to chronicle Trump’s campaign with the obsessiveness of a reality-TV addict. Trump also generated fodder for CNN’s army of political talking heads, whose screamy boxing matches made for must-see TV night after night. CNN was criticized for veering into cheap, tabloidy territory in pursuit of eyeballs, and for giving Trump and his surrogates endless hours of free advertising that you could argue played a not-insignificant role in last year’s election outcome. But under Zucker, the network has pulled off the highest ratings and revenues in its nearly 40-year history, with its audience and profits (expected to be $1 billion in 2017) doubled from five years ago. As CNN transitioned from rollicking Trump rallies to adversarial, scoop-driven accountability reportage about the Trump administration and the various investigations into Russian election meddling, Zucker earned the reputation of a fearless and hands-on leader, one who stands behind his journalists as they speak truth to power. “Jeff is beloved here,” a colleague of his said.

That’s why the prospect of Zucker leaving is so unnerving to the rank-and-file. No one expects it would happen right away, if it were to happen at all. But several insiders I spoke with expressed serious concern about what the network will look like a year from now. “People should be worried,” a CNN reporter told me. “If he were to be forced out or decide to leave, it would be a severe blow to the newsroom. I just don’t think the folks in Dallas have the slightest idea how CNN works. I cannot emphasize enough, these people have no idea what they’re buying. I get the sense that these are aliens from Mars landing on Earth.”

After Stankey’s August meeting with Zucker, the former proposed coming back to spend a day in the newsroom, observing how things work, seeing what makes it tick. They put it on the calendar, but then Stankey got a call from Bewkes telling him there had been a change of plans. Time Warner and CNN officials nixed the idea because they thought it would be bad optics to have their incoming boss hanging around prior to the closing of the deal, and there was also some concern that Stankey’s visit would leak out in the press, the people familiar with the meeting said. At 6-foot-5, with a square jaw and a long, narrow face accentuated by a decisively middle-aged bald top —matching the shorter and stouter Zucker’s—he’s a hard guy to miss, and there was already a fair amount of intrigue when he was spotted walking through the newsroom en route to Zucker’s office.

Stankey and Stephenson have taken meetings and calls with people who know Zucker, asking for their insight on his leadership. That’s not surprising—CNN will be both a moneymaker and a lightning rod for them, and it will instantly become one of AT&T's best-known products. A person who has spoken to both men told me that Stankey, in his conversations with Stephenson, has been a “huge proponent” for CNN in terms of its importance to the deal. “He’s obviously given CNN and what role it plays in American life, what the responsibility that comes with that entails, he’s given that an enormous amount of thought, and he’s incredibly sophisticated about it,” the source said.

In interviews, public appearances, and congressional testimony, Stephenson has repeatedly affirmed AT&T’s commitment to ensuring CNN’s editorial independence. “That independence is what makes CNN so popular and valuable, and we will not do anything to change that,” he told the Senate Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy, and Consumer Rights back in December. But no matter how many times they say it, jitters will inevitably linger in the background. It’s not just because Stephenson has donated generously to Republican campaigns, raising the question of whether his political leanings will ever seep into CNN’s coverage. At the end of the day, it all goes back to those chats with Trump.

As my colleague Sarah Ellisonreported over the summer, Trump has complained about Zucker and CNN in front of Stephenson. (Anyone who has been in a room with the president this past year could very well have been within earshot of such rantings.) When I asked AT&T spokesman Larry Solomon about it, he told me the same thing he told Ellison: “Randall Stephenson and President Trump have never discussed our acquisition of Time Warner, CNN, or Jeff Zucker.”

But some CNN staffers just can’t shake their suspicions. “We will never be able to prove what those two men spoke about on June 22 at the White House, or why a few days later, Trump started saying Zucker would be out of a job,” said a reporter I spoke with. “That’s what this all comes down to. Maybe some of us are just being overly paranoid, but it’s gonna be a shadow for the foreseeable future.”